Adapted from “How Short-term Focus Contributes to Future Disasters,” by the Editors, first published in the Negotiation newsletter.

In the midst of the recent financial crisis, accusations of greed on Wall Street have sounded across the globe. Greed may be a significant factor in the collapse of credit markets, but it’s not the only one. Overlooked in cries to punish the … read more »

In challenging economic times, negotiators can find themselves in an entirely new ball game. That’s what happened to actor Brad Pitt, film director Steven Soderbergh, and their production team when Sony Pictures abruptly pulled the plug on their film project Moneyball just days before the start of shooting in late June. … read more »

As negotiation experts, David Lax and Professor James Sebenius find that many negotiators focus on process and substance. Whether in person, over the phone, or through email, business outcomes seem determined by how well parties can establish trust, communicate, and put the best deal on the table. These are the first two and best known dimensions to financial negotiations. So … read more »

This is one of the most common negotiation questions. A car is one of the most significant purchases you’ll make, and the price is almost always negotiable. Here are some tips to help you with this financial negotiation.

Prepare, prepare, prepare. You can’t walk into a dealership without having done some online research. Online you can find out the dealer cost, … read more »

What’s the right number of options to put forward in financial negotiations?

In their April 2005 article in Negotiation newsletter, “Putting More on the Table: How Making Multiple Offers Can Increase the Final Value of the Deal,” Northwestern professors Victoria Husted Medvec and Adam D. Galinsky write that issuing three equivalent offers simultaneously can be a good strategy in financial negotiations.

They … read more »

In financial negotiations, it’s always better when someone accepts your offer rather than rejecting it, right? Actually, rejection can sometimes be the most effective way to get to “yes.”

Here’s a story about consumer behavior in financial negotiations, as described by Itamar Simonson of Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and the late Amos Tversky in a pivotal 1992 article in the … read more »